Media content is produced, processed, and then transmitted to consumers. In addition to traditional media content, the proliferation of electronic communications technologies has allowed for mass delivery of ancillary data related to or enhancing the content. For example, technologies such as instant messaging provide a medium by which to deliver electronic information to a large number of people very quickly. Electronic devices including, for example, personal computers, mobile phones, personal digital assistants, smart phones, and television set-top boxes (e.g., cable set top boxes, satellite set top boxes, etc.), provide ready access to consumers of information. The type and content of ancillary data that may be delivered via modern communication technologies varies greatly and comprises everything from personal information to advertisement. Ancillary data can take on various forms from simple text, to graphics, to video, to content containing numerous layers of data.
But current technologies are deficient in extracting such ancillary data for subsequent processing. Current methods of synchronization of content and ancillary data, for example, may require an explicit data connection between the source and the target or consumer and are often unidirectional. Other current methods of synchronization may rely on metadata which may or may not be present all the way through the signal chain as different facilities will use various workflows which may or may not support metadata.